State Senate may poll itself on U.S. Senate race

In a course reversal, state senators apparently are ready to act a bit as if they have moved the clock back 99 years to the era before the 17th Amendment was ratified — and legislatures, not the voters, chose U.S. senators.

The Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee voted 3-0 to endorse SR1 by Sen. Casey Anderson, R-Cedar City, and sent it to the full Senate. It would order a secret-ballot poll among state senators each election year to show the public which U.S. Senate candidate they prefer.

The same committee two weeks ago failed to pass — on a tied 3-3 vote — a similar resolution, SJR11, which would have ordered a similar poll among all legislators, and not just senators.

Anderson said that, after the earlier failed vote, other senators suggested he try the new bill for a state Senate-only poll. He added that legislative researchers are unsure whether the entire Legislature or just the state Senate elected U.S. senators in various elections before the 17th Amendment....